The Universal Penman

This fun lettering sampler from Argentina was recently sent to me by an alert reader from Uruguay. The title in English translates to The Method of Calligraphy in Schools. It was originally published in the Caras y Caretas magazine in Buenos Aires in 1917. The string of sentences following each illustration and calligraphic text reads:

1. "Primero se enseñaba la letra inglesa, por su ligereza y por estar dentro de nuestras aficciones hípicas." (Roughly translated in English as: First taught was the English lettering, for its lightness and being within our horse racing hobbies.)

2. "Luego adoptamos la redondilla francesa, por ser la madre de la libertad de escribir como uno quiera." (Roughly translated to: Then we adopted the French quatrain, as for being the mother of the freedom to write as you want.)

3. "Despues aprendimos la Iturzaeta española, por tradición y la solemne majestad de su marcha sobre la pauta." (Roughly translated to: Then we learned the Spanish Iturzaeta, by tradition and for the solemn majesty of its march over the pattern.)

4. "Tambien impusimos el estilo gótico decorativo, que es muy bueno para distracción de los niños en horas de recreo." (Roughly translated to: We also imposed the decorative Gothic style, which is very good for distraction of children in their leisure hours.) 

5. "Por último, enseñamos la vertical yankee, por ser lo más adelantado y por su parecido a las estacadas y alambrados de nuestros campos. (Roughly translated to: Finally, we taught the vertical Yankee for being upfront and for its resemblance to the stakes and fences of our fields.)

6. "Y de todas estas letras, combinadas en agradable confraternidad, crearemos nuestro elegante método de escritura nacional." (Roughly translated to: And all these letters, combined into friendly fellowship, we will create our national elegant method of writing.)

I love this perspective! It takes a global village and the art of lettering is a universal practice. Thank you for sharing Horacio!